News & Analysis
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Work–Bench announces $10 million fund to back enterprise startups
Work–Bench opened its doors in June as New York’s first “post accelerator,” a program designed to help later stage enterprise startups — ones with funding, a product, and early traction — connect with large corporate customers. Now it has $10 million to back enterprise companies of its own. Work–Bench’s first cohort of companies presented today in... -
Rare earths and our insatiable appetite for digital memory
This week a dozen protesters travelled from Malaysia to Australia to protest outside the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Lynas Corporation, an Australian rare earth mining company, for the third year running. Most Australians probably don’t realise that Australia has a rare earth mine or that this is one of a very small handful of rare earth mines... -
Superpedestrian is a company that’s actually re-inventing the wheel
While a future sans cars seems highly unlikely, Assaf Biderman has big plans for transportation. And he thinks a new wheel may be the first step in getting people’s attention. Biderman is the founder of the company Superpedestrian as well as the Associate Director of MIT’s SENSEable City Lab. Today, Superpedestrian put its first product on the market: the... -
Fire-eaters: FineGrain returns to Kickstarter after a troubled product launch
I’ve always been amazed by fire-eaters. The idea of sticking a flaming object down my gullet (have fun with that one, commenters) frightens me, mostly because I suspect that I would make a mistake and spew ash for the rest of my life. But the idea of watching other people swallow fire and use any mistakes as learning opportunities is... -
New York’s hackathon superhero sells his hackathon hack to Intel
If you’ve ever gone to a hackathon, you’ve likely encountered a person named Mike Swift. Typically sporting a smile and a SendGrid t-shirt, Swift (who goes by Swift) has been involved with every single one of the ten or so hackathons I’ve attended. By his count, he’s been to something like 150 hackathons. “I cant get... -
MOOCs go micro: Everpath is the latest offering a platform for people to host their own classes
Whether or not you buy into them or have already given up on them, it’s the age of MOOCs — massive open online courses. Startups like Coursera and Udacity have raised millions to transform education through their platforms, which allow universities to broadcast their classes online, frequently for free, for all the world to... -
Somebody call Eric Schmidt: Moovit released its latest update on Android before iOS
Eric Schmidt isn’t the technology industry’s best fortune teller. He infamously declared in 2011 that developers would want to support Android before other platforms because of its size. It’s a logical prediction that had the misfortune of being made in an illogical market: Developers continue to release apps on iOS before they release them on other platforms, if they... -
The past week teaches us that the bitcoin market won’t scare easily
Bitcoin is a bubble! Bitcoin is the future! Bitcoin is a bubble, but also the future! With the world scrambling to determine whether to accept the bitcoin religion, the market issued a number of strong signals over the last week that its phenomenon, which seems like as good a characterization as any, isn’t going away without a fight. On November... -
Connected car device Truvolo tracks vehicle speed, location, miles per gallon, and other fun facts
Sandhya Jaideep and Jaideep Jain, a hubbie-wife duo, got nervous when their 15-year-old son started learning how to drive. They looked into the market for tools to monitor their son’s driving, but didn’t find anything for the layperson. At the time, Jain worked at semiconductor chip technology company Cymer running data products. Jaideep worked at communications startup ChooChee running development. They had... -
“This Story Will Make You Puke!” New media goes all Upworthy, all the time
BuzzFeed announced today that it reached 130 million unique visitors in November, its best-ever traffic month and a 350 percent year-on-year increase. Facebook, as BuzzFeed itself reported, was responsible for a large chunk of that traffic. The BuzzFeed annonuncement came the morning after the Wall Street Journal published Farhad Manjoo’s profile of Gawker’s Neetzan Zimmerman. In the piece, Manjoo notes…
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Live right now: NSFWCORP is selling everything from its Vegas HQ in a marathon radio call-in show
It’s happening. Live. Right now. The very last NSFWLIVE radio show, broadcasting for one final time from NSFWCORPHQ. As you hopefully already know, NSFWCORP was recently acquired by Pando. That means we’re moving out of our Las Vegas HQ. Before we go, though, we’re selling everything we have left: every laptop, every piece of furniture, every... -
Windows Phone isn’t much of a threat to Android, but it represents the threat to Android’s business model
It’s hard to imagine any operating system presenting a real threat to Android. It represents a vast majority of the smartphone market, and too many companies rely on it for that to change any time soon. But the model it represents, through which many manufacturers are able to make products with the operating system, isn’t quite so defensible. Kantar... -
Edtech sales are nearly impossible, so Chalkable sold itself
Chalkable, an edtech startup which provides a platform for all of the apps used by teachers, has sold itself to STI, a private equity-backed data management company serving K-12 schools. The deal value was not disclosed. Chalkable had raised $1.3 million in seed funding from 500 Startups, Expansion Venture Capital and Prolific Venture Capital. Chalkable faced all... -
Amazon wants to use drones by 2018. An Australian startup will do it by March
Last night, “60 Minutes” set off paroxysms of excitement, ridicule, and WTFing with the revelation, at the end of Charlie Rose’s interview with Jeff Bezos, that Amazon is planning to offer delivery-by-drone within five years. While Rose and CBS producers drooled on screen about the PR coup, which could be seen as the kick-off of Amazon’s lobbying efforts to... -
DailyLook doubles down on ecommerce technology with new shoppable tearsheet creator
It’s rare to find an ecommerce company that’s developing truly innovative technology. Most instead focus on merchandising, brand development, and customer acquisition. This is likely prudent given the challenge of standing out in a sea of online retail competitors and the vastly different disciplines of merchandising and engineering. Los Angeles-based women’s fast fashion etailer DailyLook, however, has one foot...
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This year’s Cyber Monday was the biggest online shopping day in US history
Cyber Monday, despite its glitches, seems to have been a retail success. According to numbers from IBM, this year’s sales were 20.6 percent higher than last year’s, making it the most successful day for online shopping in the United States’ history. [Source: GeekWire]
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The Batman Tumbler in golf cart form is now for sale
A golf cart fashioned after the “Batman Tumbler” is now for sale. It is much smaller than the one Christian Bale rode in the movie, and has an eBay “buy it now” price tag of $17,500. [Source: CNET]
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DataSift raises $42M
DataSift, a UK startup that offers analytics of social network data, has raised a $42 million Series C round of funding. The brings the company’s total capital raised thus far to $70 million. [Source: AllThingsD]
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Factual and Smaato know where you use your phone
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Readdle launches PDF Expert 5
iPad software developer Readdle has today released PDF Expert 5 with a new interface, a new PDF viewer, and updated features.
[Source: Readdle]
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Work–Bench announces $10 million fund to back enterprise startups
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RetailMeNot files for $200M secondary offering following July IPO
RetailMeNot, which went public in July at $21 per share, has filed for a $200 million secondary public offering at $30.45 per share. Shareholders selling into the offering include Austin Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, J.P. Morgan, Institutional Venture Partners, and Adams Street Partners. The company profits of $5.5 million in the third quarter on revenue of $47.3 million, compared to $6.5 million and $34.1 million respectively during the year-ago quarter. [Source: SEC]
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Rare earths and our insatiable appetite for digital memory
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Grokker raises $5.5M for “experts” online video network
Online video network Grokker, which specializes in “expert videos,” has raised $5.5 million in a Series A round led by Kholsa Ventures with participation from First Round Capital and SV Angel. Initial categories of focus include cooking, yoga and fitness. [Source: AllThingsD]
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View the Space raises $7M Series A for virtual property tours
Commercial real estate software startup View The Space has raised $7 million in a Series A round led by Trinity Ventures with participation from 500 Startups and individual angels. The company creates virtual-property tours and collects leasing data for landlords. [Source: WSJ]
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Thoma Bravo makes $585M in 3 months flipping mobile banking company Digital Insight
NCR Corp., the cash register giant, has agreed to acquire online and mobile banking software company Digital Insight from private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $1.65 billion. Thoma Bravo is making a quick buck on the deal, after acquiring DI from Intuit just three months ago for $1.065 billion. Thank you ma’am, may I have another! [Source: Thoma Bravo]
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Superpedestrian is a company that’s actually re-inventing the wheel
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Fire-eaters: FineGrain returns to Kickstarter after a troubled product launch
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Google Compute Engine now “generally available”
Google Compute Engine, a cloud-based platform used by Wix, Snapchat, and other companies, is now “generally available.”
[Source: Google]
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PayPal launches digital gift card store with
PayPal has launched Digital Gifts, an online marketplace through which its customers will be able to purchase gift cards. Curiously, the only cards available at launch are for iTunes… and some of them are “sold out.”
[Source: PayPal]
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Inside the world’s most expensive smartphone-maker
The Verge has published a photo essay cataloguing the development process at Vertu, a luxury smartphone manufacturer that spun out of Nokia last year. The company is infamous for its expensive and ostentatious smartphone designs — its newest products are a bit cheaper than their predecessors, but not by much.
[Source: The Verge]
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Rdio hires former Amazon exec as chief executive
Rdio has hired Anthony Bay, who previously held executive positions at Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple, as its chief executive. The announcement follows a round of layoffs at the struggling music streaming service provider.
[Source: TechCrunch]
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Motorola extends Cyber Monday deal
Motorola has extended a Cyber Monday deal that offered its flagship Moto X smartphone for $349 without a contract after failing to meet demand and experiencing technical issues. The company will offer the same deal on Wednesday and on next Monday.
[Source: AllThingsD]
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Spotify launches artist-focused site
Spotify has launched Spotify Artists, a new site through which musicians will be able to view information about how their work is performing on the service; sell concert tickets alongside their work; and sell merchandise directly through Spotify.
[Source: Spotify]
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New York’s hackathon superhero sells his hackathon hack to Intel
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The UN will be investigating the NSA
The UN is launching an investigation into British and American intelligence agencies’ surveillance practices as a result of the Snowden leaks. [Source: The Guardian]
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Google Glass Explorers can buy pair #2
Google Glass is letting members of its beta Glass program Explorers purchase a second pair if they so choose. [Source: TheNextWeb]
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A beautiful smartwatch may be on its way
The founder of luxury phone brand Vertu is teaming up with MetaWatch to build a beautiful smartwatch. [Source: The Verge]
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Volvo self-driving cars will only go 43 MPH
Volvo’s self-driving cars, set to hit the streets of Sweden’s Gothenburg in 2014, will max out at 43 MPH speed. [Source: Time]
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The FCC Chairman suggests spectrum limitations
Recently the FCC Chairman made a statement suggesting that he will consider limiting big telecommunications companies’ ability to buy airwave spectrums at auction. He said, ”Spectrum is finite, and the FCC is charged with managing the airwaves that are used for commercial purposes.” [Source: WSJ]
